“Trasmette Radio Bari”. Politica e propaganda fascista verso il mondo arabo alla vigilia della seconda guerra mondiale

In the 30’s, the old temptation of being the ideal “bridge between East and West”, already present in liberal Italy, rose again in the Fascist Italy, in the order to extend its own influence in the “mare nostrum”, at that time egemonized by the French and British empires. Radio Bari, Fascist broadcasting transmitting in Arabic, represents the peak of this “offensive of the smiling” towards the Arab world. Wanted by Mussolini and created by Ciano, Radio Bari can be considered the first radiophonic station transmitting news and propaganda, that had a fundamental role during the World War II. In this essay we briefly examine the role and importance the broadcasting station had in the Arabic policy of Fascism, through the analysis of the techniques of propaganda.